The UK government has announced a £5m support fund for Ukraine’s energy sector, providing safety and security equipment to Ukraine’s civil nuclear sector.
Today, 11 July 2022, Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK’s Business and Energy Secretary, has announced a £5m support fund that has been allocated to deliver safety and security equipment to Ukraine’s civil nuclear sector.
Rebuilding Ukraine’s energy sector
This support package will ensure that high-priority items, such as personal protective equipment, communications systems, and radiation monitoring equipment, are accessible in Ukraine. This will facilitate the high levels of safety and security that are necessary in order to fully rebuild Chernobyl and Ukraine’s other nuclear sites in the wake of the Russian attacks.
The supply of essential equipment to Ukraine also adds to extensive endeavours to supply equipment for guard forces and to augment the detection of the unlawful movement of materials within Ukraine and beyond its borders, assisting the country in recovering Chernobyl from Russian control.
Providing power to the Ukrainian people
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng commented: “Energy systems play an indispensable role in ensuring national security and economic resilience.
“Today the UK is ramping up our support to the Ukrainian people in their time of need by helping reconnect power across the country and protecting the safety and security of Ukraine’s nuclear sector, ensuring their frontline is fully equipped in the face of Russia’s brutality.”
Melinda Simmonds, UK Ambassador to Ukraine added: “Ensuring Ukraine has access to available energy will not only make sure the economy continues to function but will also keep people warm and allow hospitals to provide emergency healthcare when it is needed.
I am proud of all the UK is doing to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”
Accelerating Ukraine’s economic recovery
This new funding comes after an announcement from the Foreign Secretary last week that pledged £10m in the form of the Energy Support Fund, which is part of a package to assist Ukraine in its effort to defeat Putin and rebuild the country.
This fund will help maintain Ukraine’s energy sector, ensuring it stays running in wartime; it will also enable vital renovations to energy infrastructure and help reconnect power across the country. The package contained both immediate financial and longer-term support for the Ukrainian people, utilising UK expertise and British businesses to accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.
Now, the UK government’s support for Ukraine’s energy sector totals an impressive £22m and includes the UK’s £7m donation of over 850 generators earlier this year that are already in use, helping to power crucial services such as hospitals and shelters.
These support packages come as international partners and allies from across the globe joined last week for the Lugano Conference on Ukraine’s Recovery in Switzerland in a united stand with Ukraine.
